22 – THE BIG SOCIETY
“Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, “whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches” by which he meant everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, “Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,” and then he would have meant the same thing.”
John Steinbeck
I wrote the original here largely as a rant provoked by the then Prime Minister. David Cameron’s promotion of what he termed as Big Society struck me akin to me giving a lecture on DIY.
That it has taken a pandemic to truly demonstrate this, rather than hollow words from a passing-by politician is a marker for our times. I’ve rewritten most of what follows given the passage of time.
How Money Has Ruined Sport
Since I discovered what turned out to be a lifelong passion for sport, life has moved on, it always does. As has how we value sport’s place in society today that has changed too, much to the detriment.
Money has come flooding in, largely from Sky TV, yet we are far less sporty as a nation; we watch but we play far less than we used to. Sports clubs that were once the foundation of their communities limp along or have vanished leaving unfillable voids. Whilst fewer play, even less volunteer now.
Sport was all to us as kids. Even when I entered the world of work, all I wanted to do was find a way to the weekend and the next game. Midweek nights would be filled with training or practice sessions and there was always the social side too.
It never mattered that I was not that good – just try to be better – there are clearly more important things in life. But sport gave me a purpose, an identity you might say.
I do not identify with it now; I’ve not watched football for well over a decade, turned off by over-paid cheats and moronic pundits.
Even cricket has lost its sheen, like a beautiful woman turned flabby and grey, her soul sold to the money men. Greed and a condescending arrogance towards those of us that keep the grassroots breathing are contributory factors.
Just as important is the side-lining of sport in schools, the provision of which is appalling these days. Cricket suffers more than most because its a tough – sometimes brutal – game to master.
The short-termism of politics and the get rich quick greed driven by the flood of television money has drowned much of what really mattered.
The Gravy Train
The pandemic has put much focus on professional sport, not least footballers. A recent R4 Today programme quoted the average Premier League salary at £3.5m p.a. which is a staggering sum.
Football money feeds many below those most visible, notably the agents and pundits who have spread faster than any contagion. And what of Gordon Taylor, Chief Executive of the Professional Footballers Association, commanding an eye-watering salary in excess of £2m p.a.
Few will chance rocking this boat because if one falls off they may all do so. Best stay quiet and keep pocketing the cash?
Cricket is small beer by comparison but the latest English Cricket Board accounts (2018/19) show directors pay escalating by 64% with the top earner trousering an increase of 20%.
The game signed a new television deal with Sky and junior partner BBC almost tripling the money. Fair play and fair reward may be the view but this money is being thrown in buckets at a new concept called The Hundred which looks as if it has been invented by the marketeers after a few lunchtime beers.
No matter, the participants will lap it up.
My point is that sport has become a highly traded commodity and the ever increasing sums of money involved have left it detached from the ordinary fan and, more importantly, those who play and sustain sports at the very base levels.
School Sport
A universe away from the excesses of top level sport are our primary schools. I have experience of several locally from working with them over the last decade or so. Add that to over twenty years coaching kids and I’ve seen a bit.
Perhaps the most depressing example I offer you is that of my old school. Granted our football pitch was never likely to produce pure football, but at least we had one. And, although the cricket pitch was lethal, again, we had one.
A few summers ago I asked the Head why there were young trees planted across the old pitches, in fairness, long since used. He explained the school were growing a “sensory forest” whatever one of those is. I don’t coach there anymore, unable to comprehend this bullshit.
Blame The Council
Austerity has yet to be blamed for Coronavirus but I am sure it soon will be. Since the economic crash of 2008, money has been tight and will get even tighter when normality returns.
Councils were hiking up the costs of sports facilities well before 2008. When we ran the White Bear football team, the cost of our pitch then was approaching unsustainable levels for what was, in effect, a bag of grass seed.
Local councils are clueless about sport. The provision of local facilities seems dictated by political expediency over a fair and reasonable distribution.
Privately run clubs face ever escalating costs for the provision of utilities, insurances and general running costs.
Consequently, sport is evermore becoming available only to those can can afford it and this is wrong on so many counts. Go to any middle-class area and you will see all manner of sports available, especially in the early years. The reverse is true of more deprived areas. Regardless of whatever arena, the stick rates are broadly just as bad come teenage years.
The quango Sport England used to have a mantra of Sport For All but how true is this now? I’m just glad I enjoyed the times we had because they will not be bettered.
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